Help Make Member’s Wish Come True

The biggest wish Local 6 member Phil Accorso can make is that his current effort to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation is a big success. Accorso, who is a concierge and Union delegate at the Millennium Broadway Hotel, founded the Friends in Theater Company while he was a student at Niagara University. Every so often the group puts together theater professionals, including stagehands, actors and musicians, to stage a one-night-only benefit production, the proceeds of which go to charity. The group is presenting a performance of Ahrens and Flaherty’s Once on this Island next Monday, January 20. at the Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher Street. Since most or all production costs will have already been covered through donations and previous ticket sales by the night of the performance, virtually every penny now taken in at the box office will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The cast of Once on this Island will include prestigious Broadway talent under the direction of Curtis Holbrook.
Besides Make-A-Wish, past beneficiaries of the one-night-only production have included the American Cancer Society and, following 9/11, the World Trade Center Fund. In the past the Friends in Theater Company has raised over $100,000 for charities like these.

“Friends in Theater Company’s mission is to bring the joy of theater to new audiences while providing hope to those who need it most,” Accorso says. In speaking with Hotel Voice he expressed appreciation to co-workers at the Millennium Broadway who have aided the effort by purchasing tickets, and he hopes that through Hotel Voice other members of our Union will help the effort. “They will see a great show and help a great cause,” Accorso says.

Again, the one-night-only benefit production for the Make-A-Wish will be presented next Monday, January 20, at 7:30pm at the Lucille Lortel Theater, located at 121 Christopher Street. Tickets can be purchased through friendsintheater.com or by calling 347-262-4301.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wish of a child diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition every 38 minutes in the U.S.
We wish Phillip Accorso every success with the production of Once on this Island and with making someone’s wish come true.

Rehearsals are in full swing for the January 20 benefit performance of Once on this Island.

Hotel Trades Council delegate Phillip Accorso, second from left, is an employee of the Millennium Broadway Hotel who is coordinating a performance of Once on this Island to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He is seen here, prior to his last benefit production, with Hotel Trades Council Executive Vice President Chris Cusack, Local 6 Vice President Steve Miller and Business Agent Billy St. Pierre.